How to shrink your spleen

Contributing WriterUpdated April 17, 2017

The spleen can become enlarged for a majority of reasons, including bacterial infections, blood clots, liver disease and can even cause the organ to become permanently damaged, resulting in serious injury. Because the spleen's main role is to assist in your immune function by killing old red blood cells, storing healthy blood and assisting to detoxify the body, having an enlarged spleen can be very dangerous. Here are some quick tips on how to shrink your spleen, if it has in fact become enlarged.

Before taking any steps to shrink an enlarged spleen, you should consult first with a medical professional. After a series of tests and procedures, a medical professional will then be able to more accurately determine the cause of your enlarged spleen and better understand how to fix it. The physician will most likely order a series of tests, including blood work, an MRI, a CAT scan and possibly a series of biopsies.

Getting plenty of rest and avoiding strenuous activities can help to reduce spleen size and eliminate further injury. Allowing the body to rest does wonders for your immune system, as well as internal organs. Adequate rest allows the body time to heal and repair itself, which might be exactly what your spleen needs to return to normal size. During this period of rest, make sure to avoid any sports or other rigorous activities that could cause further injury to the spleen, such as causing the spleen to rupture, which can be life-threatening.

Taking a milk thistle supplement every day, can improve the overall health of your spleen and liver, and can also be used to bring your spleen back into proper balance. Milk thistle is important to the body because it works to protect and detoxify liver cells that may have been damaged. This is important to the spleen, because an enlarged spleen is often the result of an overworked liver. Taking milk thistle can help to correct this underlying problem, bringing your spleen back into equilibrium. Try taking 250 mg of Milk Thistle once to twice a day for maximum results.

Radiation therapy is a more advanced treatment option for an enlarged spleen that you can try if your body fails to respond to other treatments. Radiation therapy uses high powered radioactive X-rays to powerfully kill cancer cells, preventing cells from growing and dividing. This treatment method can be used successfully to treat an enlarged spleen by injecting highly powered X-rays into the spleen and surrounding areas, which will in turn work to kill inflamed spleen cells. This treatment has many side effects, including heavy vomiting. This treatment should be looked as the last resort for treating an enlarged spleen.

By treating the underlying causes of an enlarged spleen, you may be able to successfully treat an already existing enlarged spleen, or prevent an enlarged spleen altogether. Because an enlarged spleen is often times a symptom for an already existing health problem in the body, by discovering and treating this existing problem, you can bring your spleen back into proper health. Sometimes this may be taking antibiotics, or may be radiation therapy if the problem is caused by a cancer virus, like Leukemia or Hodgkin's disease.

Yoga has actually been a well known treatment option for an enlarged spleen for thousands of years. Certain Yoga exercises can actually help to massage and support the spleen, if done correctly. Yoga stances like the Bound Angle, and Warrior pose, have been known to be good for the spleen and support better spleen health. Make sure, if you already have an enlarged spleen, to consult more closely with a yoga instructor, to find out the best yoga exercises you can do that will not already further endanger your health.

Tip

The first thing you should do, if you think you may have an enlarged spleen, is to immediately go see a doctor. From there he can give you the best advice on how to move forward.